Several people have died after a huge fire destroyed a tower block in west London with witnesses reporting residents trapped on upper floors as the flames tore rapidly up the building.

People who escaped the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in north Kensington spoke of others, including children, screaming for help, some holding babies from windows and others jumping from their flats high above the ground.

London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton said there had been a "number of fatalities" but could not say how many due to the size and complexity of the building.

She told reporters: "This is an unprecedented incident.

"In my 29 years of being a firefighter, I have never ever seen anything of this scale."

She said firefighters had only managed to get to the 19th and 20th storeys of the building.

Residents who escaped the inferno complained there had been no fire alarm, with people relying on neighbours to wake them as the blaze spread.

They said official advice in the event of a fire had been to stay inside.

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London Fire Brigade was first called at 12.54am on Wednesday morning to the Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road.

The building in north Kensington is at least 24 stories high.

Forty engines containing more than 200 firefighters attended the scene.

Thirty people were taken to five hospitals following the fire.

NHS England said no details were available at present on the condition of people taken to hospital.

The five hospitals are St Mary's, Chelsea and Westminster, Royal Free, St Thomas' and King's College Hospital.

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Fire crews from north Kensington, Kensington, Hammersmith and Paddington and surrounding stations were at the scene with the fire burning from the second to the top floor.

The cause of the fire is not yet clear.

London mayor Sadiq Khan has said the fire has been declared a "major incident".

The Grenfell Tower was built in 1974 and contains 120 homes, according to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

More than 20 ambulance crews were sent to the scene, London Ambulance Service said.

Picture taken with permission from the Twitter feed of Natalie_Oxford showing fire engulfing the 27-storey Grenfell Tower in west London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday June 14, 2017. See PA story FIRE Tower. Photo credit should read: Natalie_Oxford/PA Wire

London mayor Sadiq Khan tweeted: "Major incident declared at Grenfell Tower in Kensington" and urged people to follow London Fire Brigade on Twitter.

Former chancellor and now editor of the Evening Standard George Osborne tweeted: "Just seen this awful tower block fire near my home in W London. My prayers with those affected & heroes tackling it."

Transport for London said there was no service between Hammersmith and Edgware Road on the Circle and Hammersmith and City lines, while the police said the A40 was closed in both directions, owing to the fire.

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Several residents reported one man had said it started in his faulty fridge.

Residents said refurbishment work had recently been carried out, with cladding on the outside of the structure and work on the gas supply.

A residents action group said its warnings about safety had fallen on "deaf ears".

A blog post from the Grenfell Action Group in November 2016 said "only a catastrophic event" would expose the concerns residents had.

The group said there was one entry and exit to Grenfell Tower during improvement works and it had issues with evacuation procedures.

Following the fire, the group posted: "All our warnings fell on deaf ears and we predicted that a catastrophe like this was inevitable and just a matter of time."